Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+

This is the latest update of the Raspberry Pi boards aimed at industrial applications and businesses. You can think of this as a Raspberry Pi 3B+ (it features the same Broadcom BCM2837B0 CPU) but without the USB and HDMI ports.

It also features eMMC flash, which replaces the less reliable SD cards, and comes with support for two cameras, two displays, and extra GPIO pins.

Libre Computer AML-S905X-CC (Le Potato)

This is pretty close to being a full-on Raspberry Pi 3 clone, having a similar form-factor, port layout, and feature set. What is stand-out about the Le Potato is that it features HDMI 2.0 support, allowing it to output 4K.

Le Potato tech specs:

2GHz quad-core A53 S905X

Mali-450 MP2 GPU

2GB DDR3 RAM

8GB to 64GB eMMC storage

Highlights:

4K HDMI output

Source code available for a variety of platforms, including Ubuntu, Linux 4.14 LTS, Buildroot with Linux 4.9, and Android builds up to and including 8.0

LattePanda Alpha 864

The LattePanda Alpha 864 is a beast of a board both in terms of price ($358) and performance. This board is powered by 7th-generation Intel Core m3 processor (as found in MacBooks and other laptops), 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM, optional 32GB/64GB of EMMC 5.0 storage, and Intel HD 615 graphics.

With all this hardware, it's no surprise that this board can run Windows 10 Pro comfortably.

UDOO X86 ULTRA

The UDOO x86 ULTRA is something special -- it is a powerful x86 maker board and an Arduino 101-compatible platform, combined onto the same board. This combination results in a board that's ten times more powerful than a Raspberry Pi 3.

NanoPi M4

Looking for a board with plenty of USB ports? this is the board for you!

In addition to a six-core processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, support for 4K displays and hardware-accelerated 4K video playback, the NanoPi M4 also features four USB 3.0 ports, along with a USB Type-C port. It also includes an interface that supports two 13-megapixel cameras.

NanoPi Neo4

The Nano Pi Neo4 is the cheapest six-core, single-board computer to be released, ad at $45 the price isn't too bad either. The only downside to this board is that there's only 1GB of RAM, which may introduce a bottleneck for some applications.

HiKey 970

The HiKey 970 is essentially a PC running Android.

Making use of with LPDDR4X 1866MHz memory, and featuring 64GB of UFS 2.1 storage, Bluetooth, WIFI, and GPS , this is a board specifically aimed at developers, especially those looking for maximize accelerated AI capabilities that are not present of most other development platforms.

At a whopping $299 it's not cheap, but it certainly has the horsepower to handle whatever task you want to throw at it.

Raspberry Pi Zero W

OK, OK, I know that technically the Zero W is a member of the Raspberry Pi family, but this one is too awesome to not list! This has become my go-to board to use for projects. I literally have a handful ready to go at any one time.

Why?

Well, it's not just that it comes in at $10 -- which means I don't have a huge amount of cash tied up in a project -- but also because of the very impressive feature set it offers:

BBC micro:bit

We move to the other end of the price spectrum to a board that's pretty much disposable.

While the BBC micro:bit is primarily aimed at schools, its low price (about $16) and ease of use makes it a great tool for learning and prototyping on. This one is not only great for kids who might be prone to handling things roughly, but it's also great for those jobs where you don't want to have a lot of money tied up in hardware.

The micro:bit is powered by a 32-bit ARM Cortex processor and comes with a built-in accelerometer, magnetometer, and Bluetooth.

A unique feature of the micro:bit is the integrated 5x5 LED matrix that offers 25 individually programmable red LEDs to use as a basic display or output.